CAPITAL was essential to perfect and place the engine
upon the market; it would require several thousand pounds. Had Watt been a
rich man, the path would have been clear and easy, but he was poor, having
no means but those derived from his instrument-making business, which for
some time had necessarily been neglected. Where was the daring optimist who
could be induced to risk so much in an enterprise of this character, where
result was problematical. Here, Watt's best friend, Professor Black, who had
himself from his own resources from time to time relieved Watt's pressing
necessities, proved once more the friend in time of need. Black thought of
Dr. Roebuck, founder of the celebrated Carron Iron Works near by, which
Burns apostrophised in these lines, when denied admittance:
"We cam na here to view your works "In hopes to be
mair wise, "But only lest we
gang to hell "It may be nae
surprise."
He was approached upon the subject by Dr. Black, and
finally, in September, 1765, he invited Watt to visit him with the Professor
at his country home, and urged him to press forward his invention "whether
he "pursued it as a philosopher or as a man of business." In the month of
November Watt sent Roebuck drawings of a covered cylinder and piston to be
cast at his works, but it was so poorly done as to be useless. "My principal
difficulty in making engines," he wrote Roebuck, "is always the smith-work."
By this time, Watt was seriously embarrassed for money.
Experiments cost much and brought in nothing. His duty to his family
required that he should abandon these for a time and labor for means to
support it. He determined to begin as a surveyor, as he had mastered the art
when making surveying instruments, as was his custom to study and master
wherever he touched. He could never rest until he knew all there was to know
about anything. Of course he succeeded. Everybody knew he would, and
therefore business came to him. Even a public body, the magistrates of
Glasgow, had not the slightest hesitation in obtaining his services to
survey a canal which was to open a new coal field. He was also commissioned
to survey the proposed Forth and Clyde canal. Had he been content to earn
money and become leading surveyor or engineer of Britain, the world might
have waited long for the forthcoming giant destined to do the world's work;
but there was little danger of this. The world had not a temptation that
could draw Watt from his appointed work. His thoughts were ever with his
engine, every spare moment being devoted to it. Roebuck's speculative and
enterprising nature led him also into the entrancing field of steam. It
haunted him until finally, in 1767, he decided to pay off Watt's debts to
the amount of a thousand pounds, provide means for further experiments, and
secure a patent for the engine. In return, he became owner of two thirds of
the invention.
Next year Watt made trial of a new and larger model,
with unsatisfactory results upon the first trial. He wrote Roebuck that "by
an unforeseen "misfortune, the mercury found its way into the "cylinder and
played the devil with the solder." Only after a month's hard labor was the
second trial made, with very different and indeed astonishing results—"
success to my heart's content," exclaimed Watt. Now he would pay his
long-promised debt to his partner Roebuck, to whom he wrote, "I sincerely
"wish you joy of this successful result, and hope it will "make some return
for the obligations I owe you." The visit of congratulation paid to his
partner Roebuck, was delightful. Now were all their griefs "in the deep
"bosom of the ocean buried" by this recent success. Already they saw
fortunes in their hands, so brightly shone the sun these few but happy days.
But the old song has its lesson:
"I've seen the morning the gay hills adorning,
"I've seen it storming before the close of day."
Instead of instant success, trying days and years were
still before them. A patent was decided upon, a matter of course and almost
of formality in our day, but far from this at that time, when it was
considered monopolistic and was highly unpopular on that account. Watt went
to Berwick-on-Tweed to make the required declaration before a Master in
Chancery. In August, 1768, we find him in London about the patent, where he
became so utterly wearied with the delays, and so provoked with the enormous
fees required to protect the invention, that he wrote his wife in a most
despairing mood. She administered the right medicine in reply, "I beg you
will not make yourself uneasy though things do not succeed as you wish. If
the engine will not do, something else will; never despair." Happy man whose
wife is his best doctor. From the very summit of elation, to which he had
been raised by the success of the model, Watt was suddenly cast down into
the valley of despair to find that only half of his heavy task was done, and
the hill of difficulty still loomed before. Reaction took place, and the
fine brain, so long strained to utmost tension, refused at intervals to work
at high pressure. He became subject to recurring fits of despondency,
aggravated, if not primarily caused by anxiety for his family, who could not
be maintained unless he engaged in work yielding prompt returns.
We may here mention one of his lifelong traits, which
revealed itself at times. Watt was no man of affairs. Business was
distasteful to him. As he once wrote his partner, Boulton, he "would rather
face a 'loaded cannon than settle a disputed account or "make a bargain."
Monetary matters were his special aversion. For any other form of annoyance,
danger or responsibility, he had the lion heart. Pecuniary responsibility
was his bogey of the dark closet. He writes that, "Solomon said that in the
increase of knowledge there is increase of sorrow: if he had substituted
business for knowledge it would have been perfectly true."
Roebuck shines out brilliantly in this emergency. He
was always sanguine, and encouraged Watt to go forward. October, 1768, he
writes:
You are now letting the most active part of your life
insensibly glide away. A day, a moment, ought not to be lost. And you should
not suffer your thoughts to be diverted by any other object, or even
improvement of this [model], but only the speediest and most effectual
manner of executing an engine of a proper size, according to your present
ideas.
Watt wrote Dr. Small in January, 1769, "I have much
contrived and little executed. How much would good health and spirits be
worth to me!" and a month later, "I am still plagued with headaches and
sometimes heartaches." Sleepless nights now came upon him. All this time,
however, he was absorbed in his one engrossing task. Leupold's "Theatrim
Machinarum," which fell into his hands, gave an account of the machinery,
furnaces and methods of mine-working in the upper Hartz. Alas! the book was
in German, and he could not understand it. He promptly resolved to master
the language, sought out a Swiss-German dyer then settled in Glasgow whom he
engaged to give him lessons. So German and the German book were both
mastered. Not bad work this from one in the depths of despair. It has been
before noted that for the same end he had successfully mastered French and
Italian. So in sickness as in health his demon steam pursued him, giving him
no rest.
Watt had a hard piece of work in preparing his first
patent-specification, which was all-important in those early days of patent
"monopolies" as these were considered. Their validity often turned upon a
word or two too much or too little. It was as dangerous to omit as to admit.
Professionals agree in opinion that Watt here displayed extraordinary
ability.
In nothing has public opinion more completely changed
than in its attitude toward patents. In Watt's day, the inventor who applied
for a patent was a would-be monopolist. The courts shared the popular
belief. Lord Brougham vehemently remonstrated against this, declaring that
the inventor was entitled to remuneration. Every point was construed against
the unfortunate benefactor, as if he were a public enemy attempting to rob
his fellows. To-day the inventor is hailed as the foremost of benefactors.
Notable indeed is it that on the very day Watt obtained
his first patent, January 5th, 1769, Arkwright got his spinning-frame
patent. Only the year before Hargreaves obtained his patent for the
spinning- jenny. These are the two inventors, with 'Whitney, the American
inventor of the cotton-gin, from whose brains came the development of the
textile industry in which Britain still stands foremost. Fifty-six millions
of spindles turn to-day in the little island—more than all the rest of the
civilised world can boast. Much later came Stephenson with his locomotive.
Here is a record for a quartette of manual laborers in the truest sense,
actual wage-earners as mechanics—Watt, Stephenson, Arkwright, and
Hargreaves! Where is that quartette to be equalled?
Workingmen of our day should ponder over this, and take
to heart the truth that manual mechanical labor is the likeliest career to
develop mechanical inventors and lead them to such distinction as these
benefactors of man achieved. If disposed to mourn the lack of opportunity,
they should think of these working-men, whose advantages were small compared
to those of our day.
The greatest invention of all, the condenser, is fully
covered by the first patent of 1769. The best engine up to this time was the
Newcomen, exclusively used for pumping water. As we have seen, it was an
atmospheric engine, in no sense a steam engine. Steam was only used to force
the heavy piston upward, no other work being done by it. All the pumping was
done on the downward stroke. The condensation of the spent steam below the
piston created a vacuum, which only facilitated the fall of the piston. This
caused the cylinder to be cooled between each stroke and led to the wastage
of about four-fifths of all the steam used. It was to save this that the
condenser was invented, in obedience to Watt's law, as stated in his patent,
that "the cylinder should be kept always as hot as the steam that entered
it"; but it must be kept clearly in mind that Watt's "modified machines,"
under his first patent, only used steam to do work upon the upward stroke,
where Newcomen used it only to force up the piston. The double-acting
engine—doing work up and down—came later, and was protected in the second
patent of 1780.
Watt knew better than any that although his model had
been successful and was far beyond the Newcomen engine, it was obvious that
it could be improved in many respects—not the least of his reasons for
confidence in its final and more complete triumph.
To these possible improvements, he devoted himself for
years. The records once again remind us that it was not one invention, but
many, that his task involved. Smiles gives the following epitome of some of
those pressing at this stage:
Various trials of pipe-condensers, plate-condensers and
drum- condensers, steam-jackets to prevent waste of heat, many trials of new
methods to tighten the piston band, condenser pumps, oil pumps, gauge pumps,
exhausting cylinders, loading-valves, double cylinders, beams and cranks
-all these contrivances and others had to be thought out and tested
elaborately amidst many failures and disappointments.
There were many others.
All unaided, this supreme toiler thus slowly and
painfully evolved the steam engine after long years of constant labor and
anxiety, bringing to the task a union of qualities and of powers of head and
hand which no other man of his time—may we not venture to say of all
time—was ever known to possess or ever exhibited.
When a noble lord confessed to him admiration for his
noble achievements, Watt replied, "The public only look at my success and
not at the intermediate failures and uncouth constructions which have served
me as so many steps to climb to the top of the ladder."
Quite true, but also quite right.. The public have no
time to linger over a man's mistakes. What concems is his triumphs. We "rise
upon our dead selves (failures) to higher things," and mistakes, recognised
as such in after days, make for victory. The man who never makes mistakes
never makes anything. The only point the wise man guards is not to make the
same mistake twice; the first time never counts with the successful man. He
both forgives and forgets that. One difference between the wise man and the
foolish one!
It has been truly said that Watt seemed to have divined
all the possibilities of steam. We have a notable instance of this in a
letter of this period (March, 1769) to his friend, Professor Small, in which
he anticipated Trevithick's use of high-pressure steam in the locomotive.
Watt said:
I intend in many cases to employ the expansive force of
steam to press on the piston, or whatever is used instead of one, in the
same manner as the weight of the atmosphere is now employed in common fire
engines. In some cases I intend to use both the condenser and this force of
steam, so that the powers of these engines will as much exceed those pressed
only by the air, as the expansive power of the steam is greater than the
weight of the atmosphere. In other cases, when plenty of cold water cannot
be had, I intend to work the engines by the force of steam only, and to
discharge it into the air by proper outlets after it has done its office.
In these days patents could be very easily blocked, as
Watt experienced with his improved crank motion. He proceeded therefore in
great secrecy to erect the first large engine under his patent, after he had
successfully made a very small one for trial. An outhouse near one of Dr.
Roebuck's pits was selected as away from prying eyes. The parts for the new
engine were partly supplied from Watt's own works in Glasgow and partly from
the Carron works. Here the old trouble, lack of competent mechanics, was
again met with. On his return from necessary absences, the men were usually
found in face of the unexpected and wondering what to do next. As the engine
neared completion, Watt's anxiety "for his approaching doom," he writes,
kept him from sleep, his fears being equal to his hopes. He was especially
sensitive and discouraged by unforeseen expenditure, while his sanguine
partner, Roebuck, on the contrary, continued hopeful and energetic, and
often rallied his pessimistic partner on his propensity to look upon the
dark side. He was one of those who adhered to the axiom, "Never bid the
devil good-morning till you meet him." Smiles believes that it is probable
that without Roebuck's support Watt could never have gone on, but that may
well be doubted. His anxieties probably found a needed vent in their
expression, and left the indomitable do-or-die spirit in all its power.
Watt's brain, working at high pressure, needed a safety valve. Mrs. Roebuck,
wife-like, very properly entertained the usual opinion of devoted wives,
that her husband was really the essential man upon whom the work devolved,
and, that without him nothing could have been accomplished. Smiles probably
founded his remark upon her words to Robison: "Jamie (Watt) is a queer lad,
and, without the Doctor (her husband) his invention would have been lost.
"He won't let it perish." The writer knows of a business organisation in
which fond wives of the partners were all full of dear Mrs. Roebuck's
opinion. At one time, according to them, the sole responsibility rested upon
three of four of these marvellous husbands, and never did any of the
confiding consorts ever have reason to feel that their friend did not share
to the fullest extent the highly praiseworthy opinion formed of his partners
by their loving wives. The rising smile was charitably suppressed. In
extreme cases a suggested excursion to Europe at the company's expense, to
relieve Chester from the cruel strain, and enable him to receive the benefit
of a wife's care and ever needful advice, was remarkably effective, the
wife's fears that Chester's absence would prove ruinous to the business
being overcome at last, though with difficulty.
Due allowance must be made for Mrs. Roebuck's view of
the situation. There can be no doubt whatever, that Mr. Roebuck's influence,
hopefulness and courage were of inestimable value at this period to the
over-wrought and anxious inventor. Watt was not made of malleable stuff,
and, besides, he was tied to his mission. He was bound to obey his genius.
The monster new engine, upon which so much depended,
was ready for trial at last in September, 1769. About six months had been
spent in its construction. Its success was indifferent. 'Watt had declared
it to be a "clumsy job." The new pipe- condenser did not work well, the
cylinder was almost useless, having been badly cast, and the old difficulty
in keeping the piston-packing tight remained. Many things were tried for
packing—cork, oiled rags, old hats (felt probably), paper, horse dung, etc.,
etc. Still the steam escaped, even after a thorough overhauling. The second
experiment also failed. So great is the gap between the small toy model and
the practical work-performing giant, a rock upon which many sanguine
theoretical inventors have been wrecked! Had Watt been one of that class, he
could never have succeeded. Here we have another proof of the soundness of
the contention that Watt, the mechanic, was almost as important as Watt the
inventor.
Watt remained as certain as ever of the soundness of
his inventions. Nothing could shake his belief that he had discovered the
true scientific mode of utilising steam. His failures lay in the
impossibility of finding mechanics capable of accurate workmanship. There
were none such at Canon, nor did he then know of any elsewhere.
Watt's letter to his friend, Dr. Small, at this
juncture, is interesting. He writes:
You cannot conceive how mortified I am with this
disappointment. It is a damned thing for a man to have his all hanging by a
single string. If I had wherewithal to pay the loss, I don't think I should
so much fear a failure; but I cannot bear the thought of other people
becoming losers by my schemes; and I have the happy disposition of always
painting the worst.
Watt's timidity and fear of money matters generally
have been already noted, lie had the Scotch peasant's horror of
debt—anything but that. This probably arises from the fact that the trifling
sums owing by the poor to their poor neighbors who have kindly helped them
in distress are actually needed by these generous friends for comfortable
existence. The loss is serious, and this cuts deeply into grateful hearts.
The millionaire's downfall, with large sums owing to banks, rich
money-lenders, and wealthy manufacturers, really amounts to little. No one
actually suffers, since imprisonment for debt no longer exists; hence "debt"
means little to the great operator, who neither suffers want himself by
failure nor entails it upon others.
To Watt, pressing pecuniary cares were never absent,
and debt added to these made him the most afflicted of men. Besides this, he
says, he had been cheated and was "unlucky enough to know." Wise man!
ignorance in such cases is indeed bliss. We should almost be content to be
cheated as long as we do not find it out.
It was at such a crisis as this that another cloud, and
a dark one, came. The sanguine, enterprising, kindly Roebuck was in
financial straits. His pits had been much troubled by water, which no
existing machinery could pump out. He had hoped that the new engine would
prove successful and sufficiently powerful in time to avert the drowning of
the pits, but this hope had failed. His embarrassments were so pressing that
he was unable to pay the cost of the engine patent, according to agreement,
and Watt had to borrow the money for this from that never-failing friend,
Professor Black. Long may his memory be gratefully remembered. Watt had the
delightful qualities which attracted friends, and those of the highest and
best character, but among them all, though more than one might have been
willing, none were both able and willing to sustain him in clays of trouble
except the famous discoverer of latent heat. When we think of Watt, we
picture him holding Black by the one hand and Small by the other, repeating
to them
"I think myself in nothing else so happy "As in a
soul remembering my dear friends."
The patent was secured—so much to the good—but Watt had
already spent too much time upon profitless work, at least more time than he
could afford. His duty to provide for the frugal wants of his family became
imperative. "I had," he said, "a wife and children, and I saw myself growing
gray without having any settled way of providing for them." He turned
again to surveying and prospered, for few such men as Watt were to be found
in those days, or in any day. With a record of Watt's work as surveyor,
engineer, councillor, etc., our readers need not be troubled in detail. It
should, however, be recorded that the chief canal schemes in Scotland in
this, the day of canals for internal commerce, preceding the day of
railroads that was to come, were entrusted to Watt, who continued to act as
engineer for the Monkland Canal. While Watt was acting as engineer for this
(1770-72), Dr. Small wrote him that he and Boulton had been talking of
moving canal boats by the steam engine on the high-pressure principle. In
his reply, September 30, 1770, Watt asks, "Have you ever considered a spiral
oar for that purpose, or are you for "two wheels?" To make his meaning quite
plain, he gives a rough sketch of the screw propeller, with four turns as
used to-day.
Thus the idea of the screw propeller to be worked by
his own improved engine was propounded by Watt one hundred and thirty-five
years ago.
This is a remarkable letter, and a still more
remarkable sketch, and adds another to the many true forecasts of future
development made by this teeming brain.
Watt also made a survey of the Clyde, and reported upon
its proposed deepening. His suggestions remained unacted upon for several
years, when the work was begun, and is not ended even in our day, of making
a trout and salmon stream into one of the busiest, navigable highways of the
world. This year further improvements have been decided upon, so that the
monsters of our day, with 16,000-horse-power turbine engines, may be built
near Glasgow. Watt also made surveys for a canal between Perth and Coupar
Angus, for the well-known Crinan Canal and other projects in the Western
Highlands, as also for the great Caledonian and the Forth and Clyde Canals.
The Perth Canal was forty miles long through a rough
country, and took forty-three days, for which Watt's fee, including
expenses, was $400. Labor, even of the highest kind, was cheap in those
times. We note his getting thirty-seven dollars for plans of a bridge over
the Clyde. Watt prepared plans for docks and piers at Port Glasgow and for a
new harbor at Ayr. His last and most important engineering work in Scotland
was the survey of the Caledonian Canal, made in the autumn of 1773, through
a district then without roads. "An incessant rain kept me," he writes, "for
three days as wet as water could make me. I could scarcely preserve my
journal "book."
Suffice it to note that he saved enough money to he
able to write, "Supposing the engine to stand good for itself, I am able to
pay all my debts and some little "thing more, so that I hope in time to be
on a par with the world."
We are now to make one of the saddest announcements
saving dishonor that it falls to man to make. Watt's wife died in childbed
in his absence. He was called home from surveying the Caledonian Canal. Upon
arrival, he stands paralysed for a time at the door, unable to summon
strength to enter the ruined home. At last the door opens and closes and we
close our eyes upon the scene—no words here that would not be an offence.
The rest is silence.
Watt tried to play the man, but he would have been less
than man if the ruin of his home had not made him a changed man. The
recovery of mental equipoise proved for a time quite beyond his power. He
could do all that man could do, "who could do more is none." The light of
his life had gone out.
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